NOTE:
This project is superseded by Emacs.app, which is based on a
later version of the GNU Emacs core.

Version 9.0-pre3 or later of that project includes a binary, and functionality is better than Emacs on Aqua. However, if you are running OS X 10.1 (Puma) or 10.2 (Jaguar), you cannot use it. On a slower machine (400 MHz) you may also want to consider Emacs on Aqua.

This is GNU Emacs ported to OS X and GNUstep,
based on the earlier Rhapsody, OpenStep, and NeXTstep versions. Those
primarily responsible for the port (in chronological order) were:

GNU Emacs is due to Richard Stallman and company. More credits info here.

This port offers superior platform support for MacOS X and GNUstep, including
full desktop integration (dock, drag/drop, etc.), standard keybindings, use of
standard Font, Color, and File open/save panels, and support for Services.
Via GNUstep, it provides anti-aliased font rendering on Linux and other Unix
systems.

The port is based on GNU Emacs 20.7, which is one behind the latest released
version. Emacs 21 added mostly UI features, not core editing functionality.
The UI is nicer though and furthermore some Lisp packages have started
requiring Emacs 21. So there are plans to update this port to version 23 (the
unicode-internal counterpart version of the next version that will be
released) once the 20.7-based version is fully stabilized. See the Emacs.app project to get involved.

Status

Version 8.0.2

It is very stable on OS X Panther, largely stable on OS X Tiger (usually
OK for hours / tens of buffers), and stable on some GNUstep installations
(see README).
It should work on Jaguar and Panther but testing is not very extensive
there, and you may need to recompile yourself.

Download

Note: You must download the correct .dmg for your version
of OS X. If you have Panther or Tiger (10.3 or 10.4; the more recent
versions), use "Emacs_MacOSX_Panther_or_Tiger.dmg". If on the other hand you
have Puma or Jaguar (10.1 or 10.2; Puma users, you may be unable to open the
.dmg due to a checksum error; please let me know if you encounter this
problem.

All internal string handling changed to UTF-8. This means menu items,
color and color list names, and a few other things will now display
properly. It does NOT mean UTF-8 filenames are displayed correctly in
the minibuffer. Also relating to UTF-8, contents of files using this
coding can now be displayed (though not auto-recognized; add extensions
to your default coding alist). Limited mac-roman support was also
added (again sans recognition). Certain characters are not displayed
properly due to a translation problem. (UTF-8 based on work by Otfried
Cheong; mac-roman from emacs-21.) Partial support for "dead-key"
handling now added. Transparency (e.g., M-x set-background-color
ARGB88ffffff) improved: only the background is made transparent.
Cursor drawing glitches fixed. Preferences handling improved. Fixed
some portability problems on Tiger and Puma.

"Configure" info directory now uses dynamic path setting, so info
files can go under .app. Improved select() handling and PTY fixes so
shell mode and tramp run smoothly. Significant rendering
enhancements. Now works under Art backend under GNUstep. Non-Latin
text rendering works (but not fontsets), and LEIM is bundled. UTF8 is
used for clipboard interaction. Arrow cursor now used on scrollbar.
Objc-mode and tramp now bundled in site-lisp.

Other Versions of Emacs for OS X and/or GNUstep

While GNU Emacs and XEmacs both offer X-Windows graphical versions
that run on these platforms, this is currently the only version of Emacs that
runs under the Cocoa / GNUstep APIs.

For OS X, a Carbon-based Emacs interface has been incorporated into GNU
Emacs CVS development. (Carbon is the OS X legacy interface for MacOS 9
applications, but from a user perspective Carbon apps are indistinguishable
from modern Cocoa apps.) You can download source and compile by going to the
GNU Emacs link above, or search
for prepackaged versions.